Back home, Sunday the 12^th of August 2007, was the end of a much publicized youth week dubbed ‘‘Zuia Noma'' Sheng for ‘stop violence'. This exercise showed off the woefully misplaced priorities at the Youth ministry, and an approach to conflict resolution that is going nowhere fast. Violence is not the disease. It is merely a symptom of under-employment and under-utilization of Kenyan youth. The youth are at the bottom of the proverbial economic pyramid, they possess knowledge, the drive, enthusiasm, work ethic and ambition; but perversely have nothing to show for it. This is what should task the minds at the ministry of Youth Affairs, why are youth turning to violence when they ,ostensibly, have the world at their feet?

Over the years, the youth have been used as cannon fodder by selfish short-minded politicians. In 1994, a flamboyant youth militia, the Interahamwe, committed genocide in Rwanda. Mungiki, a Kenyan version is committing murder here, albeit on a smaller scale. Predictably, the government is doing nothing to address the social, economic, technological, historical, institutional and political factors that have led not just to the formation of the group but to the tensions. Instead it is focusing on indiscriminate extra-judicial killings, and mass imprisonment of the youth. The Sabaot Land Defence forces, a rug tag militia in the Mt. Elgon region led by a fellow who was my classmate in high school are just a few of the many youth-focused and politician-driven vehicles built on ethnic hatred. Thousands of under- utilized Kenyans have lost and continue to loose their lives, and livelihoods while a government that suffers from acute indecision watches idly.

In 2006, the Third Global Youth Employment Summit was held in Nairobi. This summit brought together over 3,000 youth, young entrepreneurs, development professionals and government ministers. The theme was ‘‘Creating Markets....Unleashing Entrepreneurship'' aimed at linking entrepreneurial activities to the MDG's - Millenium Development Goals with the youth being actively involved in this new drive towards youth emancipation. President Kibaki opening the summit pledged his commitment to youth affairs and as testament to this commitment,  created a youth affairs ministry and a Kenya National Youth policy ( which has however not seen the light of day to date).  Specifically delegates at the conference examined

• What it takes to grow an entrepreneurial culture, and how it can be promoted in countries where youth are recovering from conflict, and the trauma of being part of a war-torn generation.
• The huge, untapped potential of involving governments, the private and third sectors in collaborative effort over large-scale labour intensive employment projects; in promoting trade capacity building and foreign direct investment.
• Innovations in development towards safer cities, urban welfare, eco-enterprises, and entrepreneurship among marginalised populations

The Youth Enterprise Fund whose bulk is still being held in banks, has been marred in controversy from the onset. It has shown institutional weakness in a country that has the best policies and the poorest in policy implementation. What the youth need is not 1 billion shillings but an enterprise environment with friendly credit rates, a well developed infrastructure and strong institutions to safeguard their constitutional rights.

A case study of the government's misplaced priorities is a youth group in Rombo location of Kajiado South constituency. Consisting of 35 members, the group was allocated Ksh. 50,000. This in a constituency that has got one of the poorest road, non-existent communication infrastructures, absence of electricity and one of the lowest macro-economies in the country. What would you have done with the money?